User:Raine Valen/Musings/Dervish Rebalance/Earth Prayers

Earth Prayers

Armor of Sanctity

• Current: 5 0.25¼ 5 Enchantment Spell. For 10 seconds, you take 5...17...20 less damage from foes suffering from a Condition.
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 5 Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, damage you take is reduced by 5...13...15 (maximum 45) for each Enchantment on you.
  • There were several issues with this skill. Firstly, it's a self-targeting frontline damage-reduction buff. Though Dervishes only have 70AL, they will generally find most damage directed at midline and backline. I have done nothing to remedy this problem. The second issue was that the condition was supporting positive reinforcement. That is, if a foe has a condition on them (weakness, blind, cripple, etc.), then their ability to perform is already somewhat hampered. A skill designed to further hamper the hampered on a class that really doesn't need it is rather silly. Yes, this skill kicks the crap out of Shielding Hands. Quite frankly, EVERYTHING kicks the crap out of Shielding Hands.
• Proposed: 10 0.75¾ 5 Enchantment Spell. For 3...7...8 seconds, target ally gains 5...13...15 (maximum 45) damage reduction for each Enchantment on them.
  • The idea of Dervish healers has been floating around for a while, but dervs have always lacked the ability to prot. If some Dervish skills were revamped so that they could be used as prots, then the concept could become viable.

Aura of Thorns

• Current: 5 0.75¾ 12 Enchantment Spell. All nearby foes are Crippled for 4...9...10 seconds. For 30 seconds, this Enchantment does nothing. When this Enchantment ends, all nearby foes begin Bleeding for 5...13...15 seconds.
• Proposed: 10 1 20 Enchantment Spell. For 3...7...8 seconds, whenever you attack or are hit by an attack, one random nearby foe is Crippled for 2...5...6 seconds and begins Bleeding for 3...8...9 seconds. This Enchantment is renewed whenever you successfully hit with an attack.
  • One of the issues with Dervish offensive buffs has been that you have to stop attacking to cast them. The renewal clause is added to address that issue; precast and go! There are two reasons why the cripple and bleeding are random: to prevent permanent, covered cripple on all of your targets and to somewhat keep the spirit of the original. To compensate for the increase in power of the new functionality, the cost has been increased and it has been made easier to interrupt and more vulnerable to stripping.

Conviction

• Current: 5 20 Stance. For 10...30...35 seconds, you have +24 armor while enchanted, otherwise you have +1...3...4 Health regeneration.
• Proposed: 5 35 Stance. For 15...39...45 seconds, you have +16 Armor and an additional +8...16...18 Armor while Enchanted.
  • The health regeneration on this skill always seemed like a consolation. "Yeah, this skill is pretty useless while you're not enchanted, but here, you get Mending to make up for it!" In this form, it's decent unconditionally and good while enchanted. The longer recharge and duration are to make it more vulnerable to stance removal, since it is more useful in this state.

Dust Cloak

• Current: 10 0.75¾ 15 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes are struck for 20...68...80 earth damage. For 30 seconds, your attacks deal earth damage. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are Blinded for 1...4...5 seconds.
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 30 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes are Blinded for 3...9...10 seconds. For 15 seconds, your attacks deal Earth damage and one random foe in the area is Blinded for 2...5...6 seconds every time you attack. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are Blinded for 1...4...5 seconds.
  • The thing with this skill was, it was just damnably hard to use. Sure, you could do some decent PBAoE earth damage with it, but if that was the point, why not just run an Ele? The only thing that this skill ever really had going for it was the Earth Damage to trigger Ebon Dust Aura and the blind, which was, again, damnably hard to use. The new version makes it easier to accomplish the only thing that made it remotely useful: blinding things. On cast, it functions like Smoke Powder Defense. During the duration, it spreads blind with the same random AoE control mechanism as Aura of Thorns. On end, it blinds again, to allow a few more seconds of sanctuary as the downtime begins. Because it is more powerful in this form, it has been reduced to 50% uptime and causes relatively short blinds (enough to impair, but not destroy physical pressure).
• Proposed: 10 0.25¼ 15 Enchantment Spell. All foes adjacent to target ally are Blinded for 1...4...5 seconds. For 10 seconds, whenever that ally is the target of an attack, one random foe in the area is struck for 5...25...30 Earth damage and Blinded for 1...3...3 seconds. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are Blinded for 1...4...5 seconds.
  • If Dervs were granted the ability to backline, this would be one of their large prots. It's completely superior to Weapon of Shadow except for the fact that it is removable, has a shorter Blind duration, and inflicts Blind randomly.

Ebon Dust Aura

• Current: 10 0.25¼ 20 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 5...29...35 seconds, if you are wielding an earth weapon, your attack Skills also cause Blindness for 4...9...10 seconds.
• Proposed: 5 0.75¾ 25 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 5...25...30 seconds, if you are wielding an Earth weapon, your attacks cause Blindness for 3...5...6 seconds and whenever you use an attack skill, all nearby foes are struck for 5...25...30 Earth damage and Blinded for 2...4...5 seconds.
  • It was fine in its previous state, but with the buff to Dust Cloak, it became unimpressive. The effect has been buffed by the addition of earth damage, but it has been made easier to interrupt, harder to maintain, and more vulnerable to stripping.

Fleeting Stability

• Current: 10 1 10 Enchantment Spell. For 5...21...25 seconds, you cannot be knocked down. If this Enchantment lasts its full duration, you are knocked down.
• Proposed: 5 0.75¾ 8 Enchantment Spell. For 6...11...12 seconds, target ally cannot be knocked down. If this Enchantment ends prematurely, all adjacent foes are knocked down.
  • This does two things: it creates an anti-KD skill for derv backlines and gives offensive Dervishes the ability to cause KD.

Mirage Cloak

• Current: 15 0.25¼ Enchantment Spell. For 10 seconds, you have a 50% chance to block incoming attacks. When this Enchantment ends, all nearby foes are struck for 15...63...75 earth damage.
• Proposed: 15 0.25¼ 5 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes take 15...63...75 Earth damage. For 0...4...5 seconds, you move and attack 15...29...33% faster, your attack skills cannot be blocked, and all attacks against you miss. When this Enchantment ends, you are Blinded for 10...4...3 seconds.
  • In its previous form, Mirage Cloak was a high-priced, self-only Guardian that dealt Earth Damage when it ended. It simply wasn't worth the energy in most cases. This makes it a powerful spike assistance and anti-spike skill, but at the hefty price of 15 energy and a Blind when it ends, which makes it terrible for creating pressure.
• Proposed: 5 0.75¾ 5 Enchantment Spell. For 1...3...4 seconds, target ally has a 25...45...50% chance to block incoming attacks. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are struck for 15...39...45 Earth damage and Blinded for 0...4...5 seconds.
  • This would become Dervish Backline equivalent to Guardian, with the damage and blind as an additional deterrent. To compensate, it has a shorter duration (which is partially mitigated by the blind) and a lower chance to block attacks until r15.

Mystic Regeneration

• Current: 10 0.25¼ 5 Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, you have +1...3...4 Health regeneration for each enchantment (maximum of 8) on you.
• Current (PvP): 10 0.25¼ 12 Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, you have +1...3...4 Health regeneration for each enchantment (maximum of 3) on you.
• Proposed: See Mysticism.

Mystic Sandstorm

• Current: 10 0.75¾ 8 Spell. Lose all Enchantments. For each Enchantment removed in this way, all nearby foes are struck for 10...30...35 earth damage (maximum 130 damage).
• Proposed: 5 1 3 Spell. Target ally loses all Dervish Enchantments. For each Enchantment removed in this way, all nearby foes are struck for 15...43...50 Earth damage (maximum 150 damage) and Blinded for 2 seconds. If more than 3 Enchantments were removed, those foes are also knocked down.
  • Previously, Mystic Sandstorm was only used for "sandstorm bombing", a niche build that used Mystic Sandstorm to remove a bunch of enchantments at the same time to trigger their end effects. With this change, this skill can be used as offensive pressure support on Dervish casters, similar to Smite Hex and Smite Condition.

Pious Concentration

• Current: 5 5 Stance. For 5...17...20 seconds, you cannot be interrupted, but each time you would have been interrupted, you lose 1 Enchantment or Pious Concentration ends.
• Proposed: 10 45 Stance. For 15...51...60 seconds, you cannot be interrupted while Enchanted, but each time you would have been interrupted, you lose 1 Enchantment. You gain 0...2...3 Energy for each Enchantment lost in this way.
  • Pious Concentration was almost never used before due to the fact that it either ended on interrupt or stripped your enchants then ended on interrupt. In its new form, it is still possible to lose a lot of enchantments quickly, but the energy return makes it not so costly, and the lack of the end clause makes it easier to recover interrupt immunity without spending another 5 (or, in the new case, 10) energy to re-enter the stance.

Sand Shards

• Current: 5 1 15 Enchantment Spell. For 30 seconds, whenever you fail to hit with a scythe attack, all nearby foes take 5...21...25 damage.
• Proposed: 5 0.25¼ 30 Enchantment Spell. For 10...26...30 seconds, whenever you hit with a scythe attack or one of your scythe attacks is blocked, the target of that attack and all adjacent foes take 5...13...15 Earth damage. Whenever you are hit with an attack, all adjacent foes take 10...26...30 Earth damage.
  • Before, Sand Shards wasn't used because the condition was unwanted, and was taken means to remedy whenever it occurred. In this form, it rewards successful offense and punishes attackers. To compensate, the damage has been reduced slightly (in addition to being converted into a form that takes armor into account) and the duration has been reduced (until r15).

Shield of Force

• Current: 5 0.25¼ 12 Enchantment Spell. For 1...13...16 seconds, the next attack skill against you is blocked, and your attacker is Weakened for 5...17...20 seconds.
• Proposed: 5 0.25¼ 3 Enchantment Spell. For 1...7...8 seconds, the next attack skill against target ally is blocked and all adjacent foes are struck for 15...31...35 Earth damage and Weakened for 3...10...12 seconds.
  • This change is again aimed at allowing dervishes the ability to prot as backline.

Signet of Pious Light

• Current: 1 20 Signet. Lose 1 Enchantment. Target ally is healed for 30...102...120 Health. If an Enchantment was removed in this way, this Signet recharges immediately.
• Proposed: 0.75¾ 5 Signet. Target ally loses all Dervish Enchantments. That ally is healed for 30...70...80 Health and an additional 10...42...50 Health for each Enchantment removed in this way. This signet takes an additional 2 seconds to recharge for each Enchantment removed in this way.
  • This allows cleaning up health bars after spikes, as well as healing incidental damage. Previously, the instant recharge clause on this signet made it easy to generate massive heals with almost no energy loss (due to Mysticism). In the new form, it takes longer to recharge for massive heals, so it can't be abused as easily in the same way.

Staggering Force

• Current: 10 0.75¾ 12 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes are struck for 20...68...80 earth damage. For 30 seconds, your attacks deal earth damage. When this Enchantment ends, all adjacent foes are Weakened for 5...13...15 seconds.
• Proposed: 15 0.75¾ 30 Enchantment Spell. All adjacent foes are knocked down. For 15 seconds, your attacks deal Earth damage and inflict Weakness for 3...9...10 seconds, and you deal +5...17...20 damage to Weakened foes. If you strike a moving or attacking foe suffering from Weakness, that foe is knocked down and you lose 2 Energy or Staggering Force ends. When Staggering Force ends, all adjacent foes are knocked down.
  • This skill much lacked in the "staggering" and "force" departments, and so was buffed to be more true to its name. This Enchantment is not maintainable, nor is it easy on the energy, but it does deliver results, something that the previous version didn't do.

Veil of Thorns

• Current: 10 1 20 Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, whenever you are hit by an attack, your attacker is Crippled for 5...13...15 seconds.
• Proposed: 5 0.75¾ 10 Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, whenever target ally is hit by an attack, their attacker is Crippled for 5...9...10 seconds. If that foe was already Crippled, that foe also takes 5...21...25 Piercing damage.
  • It was simply too hard to keep up before, and almost exclusively used for synergy with Armor of Sanctity. With its new buff, it now works as a general anti-training skill.

Vital Boon

• Current: 5 1 8 Enchantment Spell. For 20 seconds, you have +40...88...100 maximum Health. When this Enchantment ends, you are healed for 75...175...200 Health.
• Proposed: 5 1 12 Enchantment Spell. For 3...10...12 seconds, target ally has +40...88...100 maximum Health. When this Enchantment ends, that ally gains 75...175...200 Health.
  • This change was again geared at giving Dervishes backline ability. It now functions as a pre-prot of sorts, like Vital Blessing would if it were viable.

Vow of Strength

• Current: 5 0.25¼ 10 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 20 seconds, your attacks deal 5...41...50% more damage against foes not suffering from any conditions.
• Proposed: 5 1 45 Elite Enchantment Spell. For 15...51...60 seconds, you have +24 Armor and your scythe attacks deal 10...42...50% more damage, but deal 10...6...5% less damage for each condition on the targets of those attacks.
  • The main issue with this skill was that it required that a foe have no conditions on them in order to take effect. With this change, it is still limited in ability to inflict both damage and conditions, but it limited ability is better than none at all.